


Flash Fanfiction - Episode 21 - Inside the Mirror verse

by Mindmarvel



Series: Flash Fanfic Introducing Mind Marvel [21]
Category: The Flash - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 16:11:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13884435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mindmarvel/pseuds/Mindmarvel
Summary: Wells is researching the events of Flashpoint as well as Astrid's past. He gains Barry's help with a promise to get Eobard Thawne to confess to Barry's mother's murder. Barry is kidnapped by his mirror verse doppleganger for his speed, so the group need to help him, which means bringing back Cisco from Gotham City. A few sweet SnowBarry moments and dopple ganger fight scenes





	1. Chapter 1

Oliver shot an arrow at Barry, he saw it coming and dodged it quickly, landing on the floor. He got back to his feet and dodged the next attack before it hit him. They were on the STAR Labs training floor.  
"Keep trying, Oliver." Barry teased.  
"Your cockiness will be your undoing, Barry!" Oliver said as he shot another arrow this time aiming for the speedster's head. Barry tilted his head to the side and he missed the arrow. The next one hit him in the shoulder, making him stagger.

The next two arrows that Oliver shot got him in the legs, first the right then the left. Barry was brought down, thanks to his cockiness. "I told you, Barry! You need to mind that ego of yours." Oliver said. Barry got up and limped angrily to Caitlin, to have the arrows removed and to be bandaged up.  
"Where's Astrid" Oliver asked Caitlin as he put down his bow, beside Barry.

"She's still angry with you, Oliver. So, my guess is that she is upstairs." Caitlin replied.  
"Really? It's been a month! She can't still be ma…" Oliver began, but his head began to ache with a crippling headache, more powerful than he could stand.  
He was brought to his knees and he turned around, to see Astrid standing behind him. "A month isn't long enough!" Astrid said to him. "Get your bow! We'll settle this!" she released him from his crippling headache long enough for him to get his bow, as she picked up two small daggers.

They met each other in the middle of the field and bowed in the middle. Astrid probed his mind, he tried to put up his mental wall, but she managed to probe beyond that. She saw his first attack, before it came. She ducked and swung out her leg, tripping him over.  
"Lucky move, Star!" Oliver said, unaware that she had seen his move, in his mind beyond the wall.  
"Don't call me, Star!" she said as she brought her blade to his abdomen. She could have stabbed him, but she managed to hold her temper.

"I get it! You're still mad that I kissed you!" Oliver said, "How many times do i have to apologize?" he asked as he went to shoot another arrow for her. She dodged to the right, landing on the floor, and rolling back up.  
"No, you don't get it! You came into town just to ruin things for me. Cisco left because of your stupidity." She snapped at him, as she brought her blade to his leg, actually leaving a cut through his tights into his skin.  
He gasped and buckled over, bringing his bow up. She screamed in his mind, he brought his hands to his ears and dropped his bow in defeat. "Star, I'm sorry! How can I make it all up to you?" he asked her.

She released the pressure to his mind again, "Oliver, there's nothing that you can do. I'm done!... and in the future, DONT call me Star!" she threw her blades to his feet and stormed off, leaving Oliver with Barry and Caitlin.  
"I didn't realize that she was still that mad…" Oliver said.  
"At least, she's only mad at you." Barry replied. Caitlin had just finished bandaging up his legs. "Oliver, did you need me to take a look that cut?" she asked him.  
"I'm fine." He said angrily.

"I'm ready for another match, Ollie. If you are…" Barry said.  
"Are you sure you want to go back out there, Barry?" Caitlin asked.  
"I'm fine, if i have you by my side to bandage me up, Caity." Barry said.  
"Always!" Caitlin said with a smile. Barry kissed her and made his way to the floor.  
"Alright. Let's do this." Oliver said, readying his bow and releasing another arrow in Barry's direction.

They finished their sparring match and returned to the 97th floor of STAR Labs with Oliver making his way directly to Astrid's office.  
"Get out!" she snapped at him.  
"No, you're doing that thing where you push everybody away so you don't have to deal with the hurt or hurt anyone else in the process. I'm not the only one who has noticed. You're just like me, Star!" Oliver said.

Astrid stood up and looked at him angrily, "No, I'm doing that thing where I am holding my temper so I don't cause you so much pain that you can't think straight ever again."  
"Well, you've already done that, by not reciprocating the same feelings! Look, I'm sorry that I kissed you, I was unstable and you were the one person I could turn to. I betrayed you there and I won't leave until I know that you've forgiven me." He said, with a soft tone.

"Well then, we're at a stale mate. I'm not that same girl I was in high school. I don't pine over you every chance I get. Because of what you did, Cisco left. He hasn't answered or even returned any of my calls. If it wasn't for his constant communication with Caitlin and Barry, I'd think that something would have happened to him. But nope, he's in Gotham City, apparently helping out the Batman! and he doesn't even want to talk to me!"  
Oliver's face fell. "that might also be my fault."  
"Why?" she asked.

"Because, I might have spoken to Batman, putting in a good word for Cisco." Oliver replied.  
Fury swept over her. "Get out, Oliver! Now!" she yelled. He left, closing the door behind him.  
"Why must you always have to insist, Ollie? She's not going to forgive you!" Barry told him, as Oliver entered the cortex.  
"I really don't know," Oliver replied, "I'm going to head back to Star City where I can't cause any more trouble… I need to get back to my campaign."  
"That's right, you're trying out for mayor, Mr Queen," Harry said, "I would recommend you get back as fast as possible, to not disappoint the masses."  
"And say hi to Felicity for me," Ray Palmer, who was currently helping out by filling in for Cisco, said.  
"I will." Oliver replied as he left.

Harry walked back into his office and closed the door behind him. He picked up the tablet in front of him, contacting Harrison from the council of Wells'.  
"Have your men found anything on Kent Nelson," he asked the version of himself with the long hair, slicked back.  
"Actually, we stumbled across a piece of news that might be of interest to you. It seems that the Barry Allen that you are indeed in associations with did have contact with the man before the flashpoint activity. He would be your best lead." Harrison replied.  
"I'm not going to ask how you found out that information, because I understand that it wouldn't have been easy. But thank you." Dr Wells replied.  
"You're most welcome, World Walker. Harrison out."  
Harry placed the tablet back on the desk and walked back out of the office, he was going to speak to Barry, and he knew the best way to get information from him. He would offer some assistance with Barry's Eobard Thawne problem down in the pipelines below.


	2. Chapter 2

"What did you need to speak to me about?" Barry asked Dr Wells as he joined him in his office at STAR Labs.  
"I've been putting some thought into the man down in the pipelines, and I might have come up with a theory." Harry replied.  
"Yeah? If it's about making him confess, I'm all ears." Barry said.

"Good, because it has to do with the other timeline that you spoke about. You know the one with the other Dr Wells that turned out to be a speedster. Or was is it Eobard Thawne, himself? This is all pretty confusing, if you don't mind me saying so." Wells said.  
"It was this Thawne that killed my mother, I'm sure of it. But before he came and gave me the offer to change time. The other Wells in the pocket dimension turned out to be a different version of Eobard Thawne, entirely." Barry explained.

"Good, because I have a theory. You said that Astrid was supposed to die when she was younger, that you went back and saved her. It is possible that that may be the reason that Eobard Thawne didn't take over my body, in this world?"  
"Well, that would mean that you would be in charge of STAR Labs and not Astrid." Barry thought.

"That's what I was thinking. Maybe with this information, you and I can work together and force a confession out of the man. But to do so, I will need to ask about the man that helped you reset the timeline. This man that you spoke about… did he happen to give you his name?"  
"I'm not sure how that part would be of any relevance, Harry." Barry questioned.  
"I assure you, it bares all relevance…"

"Okay, he went by the name of DR Fate. Do you want me to take you go see Thawne? I can do it now." Barry asked, excited about the prospect to get a confession from the speedster.  
"That would be great, Barry. Let's go." Dr Wells was pleased with how easy he had received that information from the speedster.  
Barry and Wells entered the pipeline. This was the first time that DR Wells had ever been down here and he found it a real wonder.  
"He's in here," Barry said as he led him down the long corridor of containment cells. Barry pressed the button to remove the metal door, but keeping the glass door closed. Harry stood facing Eobard Thawne. He had heard about this man taking over the body of his doppleganger on other earths, as well as the one that Barry had seen. But seeing this man before him felt strange to him.

"DR Harry Wells." Eobard said, "It's funny meeting you, it just seems fitting that Barry Allen would be the one to bring you here."  
"We have never met, you and I… but I understand your bewilderment." Harry said.  
"Yes, meeting the man that I should have killed and taken the body of is a little peculiar, to say the least. But what do you want from me, better yet… what can you do for me in exchange?"

"I want a confession from you." Harry said. "Admit that you killed Nora Allen. Or I will hunt down your ancestor, Malcom Thawne and kill him myself." DR Wells said.  
"Hey! That was never part of the deal!" Barry said, "Malcom is still my brother, I won't let you hurt him!"  
Dr Wells looked at Barry, "Maybe you should give us some space." He told the speedster.  
"Don't be silly. I'm not going to just leave you here, alone with him."

Wells shook his head softly, "Barry, you brought me down here for the sole purpose to get a confession out of this man. How do you expect me to deliver on my end of the deal if you won't let me do my job!"  
Barry considered what he had just said, "Fine, you leave me no choice. But if you free him or if you do anything that in anyway harms me or the rest of my team, I will come after you."

Harry took note of what Barry had said, "I understand, that Barry, but you need to know that my sole purpose is to keep everyone here safe, particularly you. But if anything jeopardizes that mission, I will stop at nothing to remove them from my path, even if it means destroying the man in that cell by removing his possible chance of existence. Even if one of those obstacles are in fact your brother Malcom Eddie Thawne."  
Barry swallowed a bit of saliva that had made its way to his mouth. He had just realized that he had never told Wells about Malcom until now, how did he know about him? Who was this man, really? But Barry knew that if he wanted a confession from Thawne he had no choice but to leave Harry to interrogate him, alone.

Barry ran to find Caitlin back in the cortex. He pulled her into Astrid's office and closed the door behind him. "Hey, what's with the sudden meeting?" Astrid asked them both, as she sat at her desk.  
Caitlin was confused, "Barry. Are you okay? What's all this about?"  
"What do the two of you really know about Dr Harry Wells?" he asked them.  
"Barry, what do you mean? We know everything about his doppleganger from the pocket dimension. And we know that he is the perfect man for the job and that he's not a speedster, and that he's been through a lot." Astrid explained.

"Yeah, that's the bit that I need you to explain to me. What do you mean about him going through a lot?" Barry asked.  
"He lost his wife and so he dedicated his life to his career… similar past to my father." She said.  
"No, there's more to it than that. He knows more than he's letting on… He knows who Eddie was… he knew him by Malcom… and he also knew that Malcom was Dr Wells' ancestor!" Barry said.

"Barry, I don't mean to sound like I'm doubting you…" Caitlin began, "…but what you're saying, it sounds a little… paranoid!"  
"It's sounds like the sort of thing that Cisco was saying." Astrid added in.  
"Well, maybe Cisco was right. Look at the amount of times we have doubted him. I think he was right about this thing with Wells." Barry said.  
Astrid was getting a little frustrated talking about the man that she loved, but she knew that she needed to push her emotions aside. "Barry, Cisco put his distrust for the man aside… he even trusted Harry with… with my mother's wedding ring."

Caitlin picked up on how unsettled her friend was feeling, "Barry, I understand that you're concerned about Wells, but if it helps… we can be a little more vigilant. Astrid can read his thoughts and we will just keep an eye on him."  
"That's all I'm asking, and thanks. I should probably go, I promised Joe that I would spend some time with Wally. Caitlin, are you still on for dinner tonight?"  
Caitlin nodded, but she really wanted to check in with Astrid as her friend had barely spoken to any of them as of late. Barry left them to talk in peace.

"So, spill!" Caitlin said, sitting across from Astrid.  
"Spill what?" Astrid asked.  
"We haven't really spoken about, you know who, for weeks and you just seem to be getting more and more… distracted by your work." Caitlin said.  
"…and you're beginning to sound like me. Can we just pretend that we have already had this chat? Because whatever you are going to say, I assure you, I've already told myself." Astrid said focusing on the documents before her.

"I get that, but this isn't just any boyfriend… this is Cisco, the one person who has been in your life longer than any of us… You need to talk about him." Caitlin said.  
"Caitlin, you know that I love you right? But right now, I need you to give me my space. Cisco has contacted every one of you, but me… so, I am treating this the same way I treated my father's death… I just need to focus on my work and get over it. He was supposed to come back two weeks ago, but he didn't. So, can we just not bring his name up, again… I'll talk when I'm ready… but in the meantime, make the most of your time with Barry. I need you to be happy, okay?" Astrid waved Caitlin out of her office and bit her bottom lip. She was trying to hold back tears. "And Caitlin? Close the door on your way out, please?" Caitlin did as she was told and headed to her medical bay to get on with her work. She was feeling helpless when it came to helping her friend.


	3. Chapter 3

Instead of making his way back to Star city, Oliver rode his motor bike out to Gotham City. He knocked on the large door at Wayne manor and wasn't surprised when Alfred answered the door.  
"I need to speak with Cisco Ramon." Oliver said to the butler.  
Alfred brought Oliver to a room where Cisco was busy at work. He seemed to be at home amongst the peace, surrounded with technology and inventions.

"You're the last person in the world that I would expect to come here." Cisco said, not looking up from his work.  
"I'm here to apologize, Cisco." Oliver said as he stood behind him, watching him work.  
"No amount of apologizing can make up for what you did. You broke the bro-code, man." Cisco mumbled as he kept working.  
"Look, I understand that you're angry at me. But please, don't take it out on Astrid. I was the one that kissed her, it was never the other way around. She had no part in any of it."

Cisco stopped working and stared at the table in front of him, listening to Oliver. "She didn't send you here, did she? No, it's not her style." Cisco turned to face Oliver and licked his bottom lip, then smiled as he worked out why Oliver had come. "She kicked your ass didn't she?"  
Oliver looked away, "Yeah, she kicked my ass. She said that you haven't called her."

"Well, what do you expect? I can't be around her. She literally broke my heart!" Cisco said.  
"Did I forget to tell you that she had no part in the kiss?"  
"No, you said that. But before, that I was ready to propose to her. She said 'no' as she feels that she might be cursed… I'm pretty sure that's girl-talk for 'I don't think we should get married.'"

"Well look at everything she's been through. Of course she'd feel that way at the moment, and for what it's worth, she's miserable without you."  
"You know all this time I never would've thought that you would be the one to talk to me about her. Who are you, Cupid? I mean you do shoot arrows and stuff, so..."  
"The Cisco that I once knew would be jumping at the chance to go back to her. What's changed?" Oliver asked, trying to figure him out.

"Well, that was a month ago. This Cisco is just someone trying to break out of everyone's shadow. I don't want to be the one, that when people look they see the sidekick. Seeing you kiss her, it made me realize that she deserves someone better… someone that is actually a hero. And I am not that person."  
"But she doesn't want that… she wants you, you know that."

"Yeah, but I'm not what she needs. Not yet, anyway."  
"So, what. You're staying here?" Oliver asked, a little frustrated.  
"For a little longer, yeah."  
Oliver nodded, "Okay…" he felt defeated.

"Okay… Hey, you should probably get back to Star City, because from what I've heard… you're running for mayor, and that can't be easy when you're… you know… not in town."  
"Yeah…" Oliver laughed. "But Cisco, can you call her? Even if you just call her as her friend. She'd like that."  
Cisco nodded and got back to work, as Oliver begun making his way out of the room. "Oh and Cisco? For someone who wants to break out of her shadow… you running away to Gotham City to follow in Batman's shadow… it's kind of ironic." Cisco smiled to himself at how right he was, and got back to work.

"Hi Caitlin, I'm so glad that you could make it. Iris will be home soon." Joe said, as Barry brought Caitlin through to the living room. "I'd like you to meet Wally."  
"Hi, Wally. It's good to meet you." Caitlin said shaking his hand.  
"Likewise, so you're the woman who sat with Barry through both of his comas?" Wally asked her.

"Yeah… that would be me, along with a brilliant team down at STAR Labs." Caitlin said as she took her seat next to Barry.  
"It must be exciting working over at STAR Labs." Wally exclaimed, "…and you work up at the very top with the CEO herself. That's pretty cool."  
"Maybe Barry should bring you on a tour some time," Caitlin said.  
"I'm just surprised that he finds STAR Labs exciting," Joe replied, "I didn't think science would be your thing, Wally."  
"It's not so much the science part but the testing that they do on speed. The calculations of how to get a movable object to travel faster than time itself… it's just… it sounds amazing." Wally marveled.

"It's not all about speed, Wally." Barry chimed in, but Wally had gone on to talk about the Flash.  
"Is it true that STAR Labs assists the Flash with fighting crime and…" Wally continued to ask.  
"Okayy…" Joe cut him off, "You're beginning to sound like Iris. What is with my kids and their interest in the Flash?" he asked smiling at Barry and Caitlin.  
"Hey, Wally. If Barry brings you over tomorrow, I'll take you on a tour, to the floor that carries out all its speed testing."  
"It's a done deal." Wally said happily, "Hey, wasn't Iris supposed to be joining us, this evening?" he asked Joe.

"She was but I'm not sure why she's running so late," Joe said "I guess I'll make a start on dinner." As he got to his feet, Iris walked through the door.  
"Sorry, I'm late dad. I had to cover a story on Kord Industries." She said.  
"So glad it isn't Star labs this time." Barry said under his breath, but Iris managed to hear him.  
"Hey, I stand by that article that I wrote. You guys had two criminals tied to chairs in there… and then they never managed to get apprehended, they disappeared! What happened?" Iris argued.

Caitlin remained quiet, as Iris looked over at her, "all talk of STAR Labs aside… how are you doing Caitlin? I'm glad you could make it." there was an awkwardness to her tone.  
"I'm good." Caitlin said with a polite smile, "…and you?"  
Wally, Joe and Barry were aware of an awkward tension, "I am going to make a start on dinner." Joe said, excusing himself.  
"Why is the tension so thick in here?" Wally asked Barry.  
"Tension? What tension?" Iris asked him.  
"You don't feel that?" Wally asked the girls.

"No?" Caitlin said under her breath, she was lying, of course she felt it. She knew that Iris was in love with Barry, despite her turning him down months ago. "Look, maybe I should go." Caitlin said. She went to bypass Iris at the door.  
"No, where are you going?" Barry asked her.

"I just remembered some things that I forgot to do at work. I have to go and check on them. She opened the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind her.  
As she walked to her car and went to unlock it, she saw Barry's reflection in the window in front of her. But when she turned around, he was gone. She must have imagined it. She could have sworn that he was right behind her.

She unlocked her door just as she saw Barry leaving his house and making his way towards her. "Caitlin, I don't want you to leave."  
"Barry, we don't need Astrid's mind reading abilities to know that Iris is in love with you." She told him.  
"No, Caitlin. Iris turned me down, it wasn't the other way around." Barry said.  
"Yeah… and that's the other thing Barry. She did turn you down… I am just the rebound girl, but hey. Ronnie just died months ago, so who are we kidding? This isn't meant to last." She said.  
"No, Caitlin. Don't go!" Barry said. But she climbed into her car and pulled out of the driveway, all the same. She drove home


	4. Chapter 4

Caitlin got to work by seven am and prepared her work site. It was sterile clean, just the way she liked it. Harry and Astrid were already in their offices for the day, she knew that Ray wouldn't be in for at least another hour. She still felt bad with how she left things with Barry the night before, but she knew that he would be in soon to begin his work as the Flash. She would apologize to him.

Just as she had thought of him, a gust of wind blew from behind her across her desk. She turned to see Barry standing there, he had filled her desk with an assortment of flowers and a box of chocolates with a note. "I'm sorry for last night, Cait." Barry said.  
"Why are you sorry, Barry?" she asked him, blushing at the flowers.

"For not going after you when you left?" he asked, he really wasn't sure as to what he had done wrong, but he wanted to make amends, nonetheless.  
"No, Barry. I was in the wrong, I shouldn't have left like that. But I guess the whole Iris thing it makes me feel a little uncomfortable." Caitlin explained.  
"I get that. But I want you to know, that there is nothing to worry about with Iris. Even if she does, like you said, have feelings for me. I'm with you… and I'm happy with you… So are we okay?" Barry asked her.

"Yes, We're okay, Barry." She said with a smile, she kissed him. The emergency alert went off, so she made her way towards the computer. "Barry, there's a robbery in progress on Warner." She said. Barry collected his suit and went to deal with the robbery.  
Harry sat in his office, he had just finished another call to Harrison informing him of how his conversation with Eobard Thawne went last night. He had hit some progress with the Reverse Flash, surely it took some time, but after a little work, and Harry opening up just a little, he felt that he was on the right track with getting Thawne to confess.

While Thawne wanted to go home, Wells would not allow him to use Barry to travel back through time again. But Harry did, however, have the resources to travel through time at his disposal. His plan was to wave this offer in front of Thawne's face until he received a confession. He had not yet decided whether he would hold up his end of the deal or not.  
He also needed to locate the right Dr Fate. But to do that, he would need to locate an old friend of his… John Constantine.

Later that day, as Ray and Caitlin were busy working, a news report grasped their attention. "Astrid," Caitlin called out. "You should come and see this."  
Astrid and Harry, upon hearing Caitlin call out entered the cortex and watched the news, as Ray turned up the volume. The news reporter spoke over a dark video that had been captured. It was of Vibe assisting Batman. "…It seems that Gotham City's Caped Crusader has been having a little help this past month apprehending criminals. But who is this mysterious man with the goggles? And what is with this astonishing power?"  
"He's going to get himself killed." Astrid mumbled under her breath, concerned for him.

"I dunno' he's doing pretty good, if you ask me." Ray said, as they saw the moment Cisco popped out of a breach and apprehended criminals from behind them.  
"He's almost moving as fast as Barry with those portals!" Caitlin exclaimed. They were actually quite marveled by his work. He had also picked up some basic martial arts skills, that Astrid knew she hadn't taught him in the past. He was really learning from Gotham City's vigilante.

When the news report had finished, none of them knew what to say, this was a different version of the guy that they had known. "I have to hand it to him, it takes some bravery to fight crime in Gotham City. I didn't think he had it in him!" Ray said.  
"Me neither," Astrid answered surprised. She felt sad that he wasn't there with her, but at the same time she was happy that he was doing something that he had dreamed of doing. "I've got work to do," she said leaving the room.

Harry nodded, "Ray. Would you mind looking up a name for me?" he asked. Ray agreed and so Harry gave him the name.  
As Caitlin watched Harry with suspicion, she wondered if there was any truth to what Barry had been saying about him. Suddenly, Barry arrived making her smile.  
"Hey Barry." She said.  
He seemed confused by her behavior. "Weren't you angry at me last night?" he asked her.  
"Yeah, but we got through that," Caitlin said, "those flowers and chocolates were beautiful. You really know how to make a girl's day."  
Once again Barry seemed confused, "Oh? Oh Yeah! I must have forgotten. I don't know why, but it must have slipped my mind." Barry replied. Harry and Ray looked over at the two of them, also confused by Barry's behavior.

"Were you still bringing Wally by for a tour?" Caitlin asked.  
"Wally? What do you mean?" Barry asked her.  
"We spoke about it last night. Remember? I was going to give Wally a tour of STAR Labs. Barry, are you feeling okay?"  
"I'm feeling better than great, I'll go get Waldo and meet you down at the main entrance." Barry said and he left immediately.  
Caitlin looked over at Ray and Harry, confused.

"He's not okay… He even forgot Wally's name…" she said."  
"Maybe it had something to do with that robbery he handled this morning?" Ray asked.  
"He was fine when he came back." Caitlin replied, "Ray, I might need you to keep an eye on Barry for me. But don't let him know that you're there." Caitlin said.  
"Yeah, my Atom suit is up and ready to go. I know that I offered to fill in for Cisco but, I've been waiting for some action." Ray replied.  
"Did you happen to find that name for me?" Harry asked.

"Oh yeah. It's right here. He is one hard-to-find man, it took me a whole two minutes…" Ray said.  
"Two minutes?" Harry asked.  
"Yeah… normally it's one minute, but this man didn't want to be found. Caitlin, are we going now?"  
Ray and Caitlin left to meet with Barry and Wally on their tour of STAR Labs, as Harry retrieved the information on the computer. "It's been a while Constantine…" Harry said to himself, "I really hope that you can help me again."


	5. Chapter 5

Ray put on his atom suit, shrunk to the size of Caitlin's thumb and climbed into her handbag. They met with Wally and the very strange acting Barry, down at the main entrance. As Caitlin led them through the floors, that would be of the most interest to Wally, she tried to get Barry talking. She needed to trip him up as to why he was acting so peculiar without exposing his secret identity.

They arrived onto one of the floors that was generally led by Cisco Ramon. It was devoted entirely to the research that they had gathered on the Flash. They also trialed out the upgrades that were put to Barry's suit and tested out theories in relation to speed and velocity.  
Wally was in his glory, and even though Barry himself had been down here on numerous occasions, he too seemed excited. "So it's true. STAR Labs does assist the Flash." Wally said excitedly.

"Actually, we are just researching him…" Caitlin said, "We are curious as to what makes him do the things that he does..."  
"So what information have you gathered?" Wally asked her.  
"That there was a combination of factors that made the Flash become what he is. Most of those factors would have killed any regular person. But theoretically, it was his own biological makeup, that made him the Flash." Caitlin explained looking over at Barry.

As Caitlin continued to give the tour, Ray subtly hopped into Barry's backpack. He was surprised to find that the speedster took a couple of items from the laboratory without anyone noticing. It didn't seem like the Barry that he had come to know.  
When Caitlin finished giving the tour, and Wally had left, she headed back up to the 97th floor to listen in to Ray carrying out their plan via his communicator. However, while Barry had told Caitlin that he had to go in to CCPD, Ray found, that he had no intention of going to the Police Department. Instead, he went to a bar on the other side of town, where he met with a woman.

When Ray peered out of Barry's bag, he understood why he had recognized the woman's voice. She was an identical clone of Caitlin Snow. Only her fashion sense was the entire opposite to the Dr Snow, that he knew, and he knew that she was not Frost.  
Ray ducked his head down and turned on his communicator so that Caitlin, back at STAR Labs, could listen in on the conversation.  
"Did you find him?" Caitlin's doppleganger asked.

"I did. I've locked him away. I also acquired some tools that will help with extracting his speed." Barry replied.  
"Good. Well, let me know when you're ready and we can get started immediately." Caitlin's doppleganger said.  
"Why wait? I'm ready now!" Barry said.

Ray whispered into his communicator. "Caitlin, did you hear that? We're going to need some help. Follow my tracker and come find me. I'm going with them."  
Caitlin, who was sitting back at STAR Labs had heard the entire conversation. She immediately called Astrid and Harry to her side, explaining to them what she had just heard.  
"They have our Barry!" Caitlin exclaimed. "I've been searching everywhere for him and his signal can't be located! And from the sounds of things they want his speed! I should have known that it wasn't him, but I even led him to the tools that will take away Barry's speed."

"Caitlin, you didn't know. Don't blame yourself. We're going to find him. If we continue monitoring Ray's signal, they should lead us to them." Astrid said trying to comfort her friend.  
"Well, it looks like that plan has just failed…" Harry said, "Ray's signal has just disappeared too."  
"I'm beginning to grow tired of these evil clones," Astrid sighed out of frustration.  
"I'm wondering if they took them to either another world or the mirror verse." Harry said, "that would explain why we can no longer reach them."  
"Well, how would we know?" Caitlin asked.

"We don't," Astrid said gravely. "…and even if we did… we don't exactly have the powers to follow after them. I mean if it's the mirror verse – Scudder is locked away. We can't exactly break him out of prison…"  
"Well, we do…" Caitlin said, "Just one call, Astrid. Cisco can help us. He was able to bring you all back from the pocket dimension, he is our best shot!"  
"We don't even know where Ray and Barry are! We're not going to waste his time!" Astrid snapped.  
"Caitlin's right, Astrid. Even if you do your mind scan across the entire city, I feel that we won't find them." Harry said.

"Well, I'm not going to rule that out!" Astrid said stubbornly. "I'm going to my office, don't call him unless I know that they aren't still on our earth!"  
Astrid stormed into her office to allow her some space to concentrate on her mind scan, while DR Wells went to his, leaving Caitlin at the desk. She wasn't going to wait. She knew that Barry was not on their earth. She was going to call Cisco then and there, and he would help them get Barry and Ray back.  
As Harry entered his office, he saw that there was a man in a light brown trench coat standing before him. "Wells, It's been a while!" the man said.  
"I would ask how you got in here… but I know better." Harry said to the blonde British man.

"So… you summoned me. Why? Does it have anything to do with the dear who runs this little organization?" John Constantine asked him.  
"It does, in fact. I recently found a letter addressed to her, which she has no idea about." Harry handed the letter that he had found in Robert Sutherland's journal, over to the man. John Constantine read the letter and a look of surprise came over his face.

"This is fucking remarkable." He said after a few moments. "I thought that bastard lost his daughter. Didn't she die in that car accident at the age of ten?"  
Harry nodded, "That was what I thought too… but she is friends with Barry Allen, and he went back and saved her… twice, in fact."  
"That fucking bastard. Wait, how old is he in this timeline?" Constantine asked.

"He's only twenty-five. He received his powers about a year ago. And he has already altered time… But in that time, the lords of chaos were able to manipulate her."  
"Bullocks! So I'm guessing that you want me to track down our old friend, before they find her again…"  
"Yes, and if you can… do so without her knowing you're here. None of them know who I really am. It hasn't been easy, considering she is also a meta-human who can read minds." Harry said sternly.  
"Consider it done!" John said.

Suddenly, there was a knock at Harry's door. "Harry," Caitlin called out, "You might need to play mediator in a few moments."  
DR Wells turned back to Constantine, who was no longer there. He opened the door to see Caitlin standing in front of him. "You called Cisco, didn't you?" he asked her.  
"I did. He'll be here in…" before Caitlin could finish her sentence, a breach appeared and Cisco stepped out. "Did somebody order a hero?"  
Caitlin and Harry stepped into the cortex to greet the man, who now had his own matching suit to match his heroic ego.  
"Caitlin!" Astrid called out, "I told you not to call him for help!"

"Actually, you said not to do it until after you had finished your mind scan… and you have finished your mind scan, haven't you Astrid?" Caitlin asked her.  
Astrid pulled a face, "Yes… but…"  
"Did you locate Barry?" Caitlin asked her.  
Astrid's face fell, "No… but that doesn't mean that we need him…" she snapped pointing at Cisco.  
This time Harry made his way towards Astrid. "Even if Barry and Ray are on this earth… your mind scan didn't work… Remember, Cisco receives visions. He might be able to help us locate them." he said.

Cisco removed his goggles from his face, and ran over to Barry's suit, ready to help them.  
"Okay, fine. He can help provided he doesn't get in the way." Astrid snapped. They watched as Cisco opened the glass and put his hand on Barry's suit. He was hoping to receive a vision. Though nothing came.

The team sighed, "See? We're wasting time when we could be finding Barry." Astrid said.  
Cisco sighed willing his powers to work at that moment. From what Caitlin had told him, Barry was in danger. Barry needed him to get a vibe at that moment.  
He rubbed his hands together, and touched the suit again, knowing that Astrid was furious with him at that point. He didn't want to waste their time any more than he was already doing so.

Then he got one. He saw Barry lying on a bed asleep, Caitlin was hovering over him. She stuck a large needle into his arm and took his blood. But she was working with her left hand. The reverse to his friend Caitlin. "Have you extracted his speed?" another Barry asked, standing behind her.  
"I have." She answered him.

But just as Cisco had seen the vision it was gone again. He told the group what he had seen.  
"If Caitlin was using the opposite hand to our Caitlin…" Harry began, "…I'm betting that it was the mirror verse."  
"It sure felt like it." Cisco said.

"Okay, so we know where we're going." Astrid said, "Let's find Joe and convince him to let Scudder out of prison to help us, so we don't have to waste Cisco's precious time."  
"Do we really want to let him out of prison, Astrid? We can't trust him. And Barry said last time that he didn't think that Scudder would dare return back to the mirror-verse, much less bring friends." Caitlin said.  
"Caitlin's right." Harry said, "Theoretically speaking, we should be able to get to the mirrorverse with Caitlin and Cisco's powers alone. I don't think that we have a choice in the matter."

"Okay… so we go with that then… and then after we get Barry and Ray back… Cisco, you have every right to go back home to Gotham City." She said directly to Cisco, her tone filled with sarcasm and anger.  
"Hey, while I get that that's the first thing you've actually said to me… Gotham City isn't my home, Central City is. I'm only there because…" Cisco began.  
"Look, the two of you can carry out your little husband and wife disputes later. I think that right now, Barry's life depends on us to keep a level head." Harry told them both.  
"Okay, you're right. Let's just get this over with!" Astrid said under her breath. Cisco agreed.


	6. Chapter 6

"The first thing that we need to consider is how we're going to get there." Harry told the group.  
"Easy… find a mirror, Frost freezes it and I breach us through. You said yourself that it should work." Cisco told Harry.  
"That's not what I'm talking about…" Harry said.

"What he means… is which mirror are we going to use?" Astrid corrected, "We need a mirror that we know won't lead us out into the middle of an attack. Barry said that even our doubles seemed dangerous."  
"Actually he said that yours, Astrid was a…" Caitlin began.

"…That's beside the point. We're better off if we don't run into them."  
"But, wouldn't it be better if we winded up in STAR Labs? At least we know who we're dealing with… and that would also be the perfect place to take Barry to run tests…" Cisco said, "Not to mention our doubles have our exact powers… if a little stronger… and I can whip something up to magnify our powers so we're not at a handicap."  
"Good idea, Ramon." Harry replied.

"Okay… we do that then… but we still need to be careful, how fast can you whip something up, Cisco?" Astrid asked him.  
"You have met me, right?" he asked her, "and actually I had been working on a little something before I left… just let me find them…" he begun rummaging around for what he was looking for. "Found them!" he said when he returned. "A bracelet for Astrid and a necklace for Frost. I've already been wearing mine! My goggles!"  
"So, that leads to which mirror we're going to use. We actually have full length mirrors in the ladies' bathrooms, that would make it easier for us to walk through." Caitlin said.  
"Okay… Let's go!" Astrid said. "But when we get there. We can split up. Harry you and Cisco can scour STAR Labs. Try not to be detected. Caitlin and I will scan the city and search." 

They were making their way to the bathrooms as she spoke.  
"Splitting up? In a reverse version of our city? You know what happens when we all separate." Cisco argued.  
"Yeah, we cover more ground." Astrid argued back.  
"Splitting up sounds perfect!" Harry agreed. "Anything to keep the two of you from arguing."  
"So, here we are." Caitlin said as they stood in the bathroom, facing the full length mirror.  
"Yep… in the ladies' bathroom…" Cisco said looking over at Astrid, as he was reminded of the time that he had been under the Rainbow Raider's control "It's so much cleaner than the men's."

Caitlin thought of all the horrific things that were probably being done to Barry, at that moment. She let that fuel her, for Frost to take over.  
Frost ran her fingers up the mirror and within seconds the mirror had begun freezing over.  
Harry placed a thermometer over the mirror to check its temperature. "Okay, Cisco. Do your bit!" he told him.  
Cisco fixed his goggles to his face, "Okay, everyone… stand back!" They all took a few steps backwards as he raised his hands. He shot vibrational waves towards the frosted mirror and a breach was created.

"Okay this time, I don't want anybody to laugh if I hit my head again!" he told them, he ran through the breach. It had worked. The breach had entered through the mirror. The rest followed through after him.  
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." Cisco said as he took a look around the bathroom that they had stepped into. It was the exact mirror image from the bathroom that they had just been in.

"Shh." Frost said to him, "Before someone hears us."  
Astrid preformed a mind scan. "No one's here. I can't sense anyone in the building." She said.  
They made their way out of the bathroom and were surprised when they were stopped by Astrid and Cisco's dopplegangers.  
"You were right, Cis…" Astrid's clone said to her companion, "They were coming."  
"My visions are never wrong!" Cisco's clone said.

"I thought you said that you couldn't sense anyone," Frost said to Astrid.  
"I couldn't get a reading… they must have been…" Astrid began, but her reverse clone interrupted her "Oh, you didn't know? You can actually cloak yourself to not be sensed by other telepaths… It's a pretty cool defense, if you ask me…"

Astrid's clone's eyes fell on Cisco as he stood infatuated by her provocative dress style. She was clearly loving the attention.  
"Look, We're here to save our friend, Barry. So, if you don't mind… we will help him and be on our way." Astrid said.  
Cisco's clone stepped before her, he seemed to have some sort of superiority complex. "You're not going anywhere but back where you came from…" he told her.  
"Excuse me?" She snapped.

"Don't make her mad, man." Cisco warned.  
But the mirrorverse Cisco seemed to be challenging her.  
"There is no way in hell are we going back where we came from. We are not leaving, until we have our friend… so get the hell out of my way!" Astrid snapped.  
He grinned at her, daring her to make a move. "Oh, screw this!" she snapped. She sent an excruciating headache into his mind. Only he didn't flinch. However, the Cisco from her world began to suffer in intense pain.

As Astrid realized what was happening, she stopped, immediately. "What the hell?" she asked, confused as to why it hadn't worked.  
The mirror verse Cisco grinned. "I should probably explain something to the lot of you. When we are all in the same mirrorverse, any pain that we experience our reverse selves will also experience. So you can't hurt us, or you will only be hurting yourselves."  
"But that doesn't explain why my power doesn't work on you…" Astrid said.  
"Well, it seems fitting that I would invent something to protect myself from this beautiful creature beside me. Which I suppose, now also means that it protects me from you too." He told her.

Cisco who was getting rather annoyed created a breach behind them to get them out of STAR Labs. "Let's go you guys!" he told them.  
As they went to leave the reverse version of Cisco struck Astrid with a blast of vibrational energy, knocking both she and her reverse self to the floor. "None of you are going anywhere!" he told them.


	7. Chapter 7

As Cisco watched Astrid fall, he felt the anger flush over him, he knew that this would cause him unmeasurable pain. He shot out a vibrational blast that brought the other Cisco, as well as himself to the floor.

He could tell that it had the impact that he was aiming for as his double swore out loud.  
"Cisco! What are you doing?" Caitlin asked him in shock, as she helped him up. Both Astrids were still unconscious and Harry was seeing to their own female leader.  
"I knew that we were the complete opposite, Francisco but you're clearly the suicidal type. Such a shame!" the mirror version of Cisco said.  
"No, I'm just loyal. Look at the way you treat everyone around you… it's no wonder your Barry and Caitlin left you." Cisco shot back. He got to his feet and stormed towards the man, ready to make another hit, even if it killed him.

His mirror double smirked at him. "You clearly know nothing. Barry left because he had the ambition to get faster, why do you think he has your Barry? He's going to take his speed, and he will kill him in the process. I'm just keeping all of your asses safe by not letting you go. Knocking her out was clearly the best option, she just seems so stubborn… how do you deal with that?"

Cisco went to make a comment as to how hard it is to manage her stubbornness but chose not to. He understood what his double was saying. "So your whole 'attack of the clones' plan was to keep her safe?" he asked him.  
"Bingo! She dies, my Astrid dies. You die… I die… Frankly, I'm in favor for self-preservation." the reverse Cisco said. He looked over at Caitlin, "However, I have no concerns for her… nor your friend either."

"I will not let my friends die." Cisco snapped at him.  
"She's waking up." Harry said as he and Caitlin helped Astrid to her feet. She stormed over to the mirror version of Cisco "What the hell did you do that for?" she snapped at him.  
Her world's Cisco held her back by her waist so she wouldn't knock the man out, "Astrid. Trust me, he did what he felt was right."  
"What are you talking about, Cisco? That jerk struck me down! Knowing full well what it would have done to his girlfriend!" She turned to look at him, not realizing that he still had a hold of her.

"He did it for self-preservation." Cisco explained, his tone faltering as he was standing so close and holding her still.  
"Self-preservation?" she asked him as she removed his hands from her waist. Harry and Caitlin approached them.  
The reverse version of Cisco looked over at Caitlin. "You want your friend back… I might have an idea. But you will all have to do everything that I say." He told them.  
Barry awoke strapped to a foreign bed in what looked like an old warehouse. 'Where am I?' he wondered to himself. Of all the warehouses he had seen in Central City, he knew that he had never been in this one before. While his arms were strapped to a bed, his ankles were shackled together too.

His powers had been dampened so he couldn't phase out either. He looked around him. He was surrounded by medical gear including stainless steel carts and equipment.  
But how did he get there? He remembered running, he saw a man running behind him in the same red suit as him. It had confused Barry. He had thought that he might have caused another Flashpoint. But when he had stopped, the speedster had injected him with something. It hit him like the chemical that Caitlin and Cisco had invented to get him drunk. And now he was here, but why?

He listened out for anything, but then he heard someone entering the room. The clicking of her heels on the concrete floor caused him to turn to see who was approaching him. She was wearing her white lab coat. "Caitlin!" he exclaimed. "I don't know how I got here! You need to help me. I'm so sorry I missed the tour! Don't be mad. Is Wally angry with me?"  
Caitlin smiled at him, but it was not her usual comforting smile that Barry loved seeing when she was bandaging him up. It was the smile she got when she found things funny.  
She stroked back his hair, "shh... Barry. It's okay. You're okay. Don't worry about the tour, we handled it." She picked up a syringe from the cart and stuck it into a small vial of clear liquid, bringing the chemical into the syringe.

"What are you doing, Caitlin?" he asked her confused. She took the syringe and continued to stroke his hair. "It's okay, Bar… everything's going to be okay. You need to rest some more to gain your strength. You're really going to need it!" She stuck the needle into the vein of his arm. Barry screamed out "Caitlin! Don't do this! Please! Help me, Caitlin!" he quickly grew drowsy. Caitlin put the syringe back down and kissed him on the forehead as his eyes closed tightly again. He had fallen asleep.  
"You're kissing him, now?" the mirrorverse Barry asked her.

"Anything to calm him down… I hate to hear you scream. Even if it isn't really you, Barry. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you." She said sadly, thinking about what was coming their way.  
"That's why you're the perfect one for me. You've always been the one by my side. I owe you my life." He told her.  
"That you do, and don't forget it Barry." Caitlin said with a smile. "…and think about it… the more speed you acquire, you will not only catch the reverse Flash… this time, you will kill him."

"Anything for you, doctor… Is there anything you need me to do to help?" he asked her, hopeful.  
"Just ensure that Scudder is locked away safely. I'll alert you when I need you." Caitlin said, she waved him away so that she could continue with her work.


	8. Chapter 8

Astrid left the ladies bathroom with her clone and Caitlin behind her. "You've got to be kidding me! Hell no! There is no way that I am wearing this! How do I even fight in this? This is even worse than what I wore in Gotham City!" she said in disgust. She and Caitlin were wearing the clothes from the other Astrid's wardrobe, which consisted of short black latex and knee high boots. Caitlin seemed a little more used to it, due to the clothes that Frost would generally pick.  
"I think it's hot… so does everyone else, your boyfriend included." The mirror version of Astrid said.  
"He's not my boyfriend!" Astrid snapped.  
"…Anymore…" Caitlin added.

"Such a shame. He's cute!" the mirror Astrid said.  
Astrid and Caitlin looked at each other awkwardly.  
When they entered the cortex the Cisco from their world burst out laughing as he saw what Astrid was wearing. She gave him a look that meant death if he continued.  
Cisco's doppleganger told them, "I get that you don't like the style, but if you want the plan to work you have to go with it, otherwise I can promise you… we will all die. Your friend Barry included.

"Fine… let's get this over with." she said, trying to make her skirt stretch down her legs to cover more skin, to no avail.  
"Hey," Harry said, "why are you helping us, and don't lie to us!" he said to the mirror version of Cisco.  
"Honestly? Because, while the Barry in this world wants to get faster to stop the reverse flash, he becomes all the more unstoppable. Barry has killed enough people as it is… and once again, it's all about self-preservation. We need to stop him before he gets to that point." Mirror Cisco said.  
As mirror Cisco created a breach, ready for he, Caitlin and Astrid to go through, the mirror version of Astrid sent a message to Astrid's mind directly, making her turn towards the girl.

The quieter version of Astrid had just given her some information that mirror Cisco had no idea about and it might help with their plan.  
As the breach closed behind them, Harry questioned the girl. "What does he mean by the Reverse Flash? Who is he? Why is your Barry after him?"  
"I really shouldn't say anything." She said. Harry was trying to determine who the real villains were.

Cisco wasn't sure where Harry was going with his line of questions, but he didn't care. "I don't trust that other me. Where are they headed? I need you to tell me!" he told her.  
"I can't tell you, we need to stay here, he's keeping us here, to keep us safe." She said.  
"It ain't happening missy. Tell me where they are!" Cisco demanded.  
Mirror Astrid nodded. She told him. Cisco immediately opened a breach.

Barry woke back up. He was feeling weaker by the minute. Once again he saw Caitlin approach him. "I think that it's time for me to tell you what is going on, Barry." Caitlin said as she sat beside him.  
"Caitlin, am I okay? I feel weak." he said.  
"You're fine, Barry. But I need to explain… you are in the mirrorverse. You are helping the greater good by donating your speed to someone who can help stop the Reverse Flash." Caitlin continued to stroke his forehead lovingly. It reminded him of the way his mother used to do it. But then he realized what she was trying to tell him.  
"You're not Caitlin!" he said as he realized.

She smiled again, "Oh, I am Caitlin. Just not your Caitlin. I am doing what I can to ensure that the Flash of this world brings down Eobard Thawne."  
"No… Leave me alone!" Barry yelled at her.  
They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Caitlin looked confused, Barry saw the instant she changed, turning into Frost as she went to answer it.  
When Frost answered the door, she saw Astrid standing before her, looking a little nervous.  
"Astrid, what are you doing here." Frost asked her.

Astrid ran into the room, closing the door behind her. "Frost! You need to listen to me! They're coming for you. Cisco knows where you are and he's brought friends of Barry's. The ones from the mirror verse. We need to get you out of here, please! You need to listen to me this time."  
"I can't Astrid, you know that I can't. not yet." Caitlin said as she took over her own form again, upon realizing that Astrid was not a threat.  
Astrid walked over to Barry's bedside, "Do you need my help Caitlin? Cisco is mad. You know how angry he can get. I think that he will actually kill Barry this time."  
Caitlin looked down at the floor, there was a certain fear in her eyes that Barry noticed.

"Okay… yeah, I could use your help, Astrid. You need to work your mind control on this Barry. He's not willing to give up his speed. You need to convince him to do so." Astrid nodded.  
She placed her hand on Barry's shoulder and closed her eyes, as she stood by his head. He wasn't letting her into his mind, it seemed impossible. But then it began to get easier, the bracelet that Cisco had made to increase her powers was working. She was bypassing the wall in Barry's mind.  
'Barry, it's Astrid… from your world. You need to play along.' She thought to him.

'No… you're trying to trick me. Astrid can't get into my head unless I allow her… I'm not allowing you...'  
She interrupted his thoughts angrily, 'Barry. Don't be stupid. We're trying to save you… Cisco made me a bracelet to make my powers stronger, Harry and Caitlin are here too… Ray led us to you. So, just play along, please!' she demanded of him. Caitlin turned into Frost, she was doubting that Astrid's power was having any effect.  
"Okay. I will help…" Barry said, submissively to Caitlin. "Do what you need to do."  
"See? All done!" Astrid said to Frost.

"Do you really think I believe you, Astrid? If that's who you really are… You're just a pawn in this game… We already found your tiny friend... where do you think Barry is right now? He's dealing with the tiny man! " Frost said. She threw a blast in Astrid's direction, but she managed to duck behind the bed in time.  
"Ray!" Astrid exclaimed, realizing what Frost had meant.  
"Hey!" Barry called out as the blast just missed him. Astrid sent a crippling mind scream to Frost, out of anger for what they had done to Barry and Ray. Guilt washed over her as she realized it would have had an effect on her friend Caitlin.

Suddenly, a breach appeared and the mirror version of Cisco and Caitlin stepped out. Cisco took a hold of Frost, and called out to Astrid to follow him back through the breach.  
"Caitlin! I'm so sorry, if i hurt you with my mind scream... they have Ray!" Astrid said to Caitlin as she ran passed her, towards the breach.  
Cisco closed the breach behind he, Frost and Astrid.

Caitlin ran over to Barry, who was happy to see her, "oh, Caitlin. You need to get me free. My powers have been dampened. Why did they just leave us here?"  
Caitlin kissed him and as she moved her head back, she said, "I can't free you yet. We need to capture the other Barry. That's why they had to go. But I will not let anybody hurt you and we will find Ray!" Caitlin looked over at the tools on the cart, "Barry, how are you feeling? They are trying to weaken you. Let me see if I can..." before she could finish her sentence, the door opened behind her. It was the other Barry.


	9. Chapter 9

Mirror Cisco breached Astrid and Frost down to the pipeline, where he locked Frost inside. She immediately turned back into Caitlin. "I'm sorry Cait. But we need to stop him." He said as he sealed the door shut, locking her inside.  
He breached he and Astrid back to the cortex and felt anger wash over him. "Where the hell did they go?" he demanded, referring to their dopplegangers.  
"Clearly, they went looking for us!" Astrid said.

"Do your mind scan thing, now! Find them!" he demanded of her.  
"Excuse me?" she asked him. "You're lucky that I don't lock you in the pipeline. Don't talk to me like that! Let's just get on with the plan and find the evil Barry before Caitlin gets hurt! Before we left I sensed him coming, so if we get back there now…" she stopped talking, as she saw that he wasn't breaching. This man was useless to communicate with.

She sent a mind link to the Cisco of her world, wherever he was. 'I think you need to come back to the cortex, Cisco. You've made this guy mad!'  
He sent back a reply, 'that's kind of hard… we've been captured! Good news is… Ray's here…' he gave her a location.  
Astrid swore out loud. "they got themselves captured… let's go get them!" she said defeated.

As Caitlin tried to improvise with the Barry who had just entered the room, she received a mind link from Astrid telling them that Harry and Cisco had gotten caught and were being kept with Ray. Astrid had requested that Caitlin keep the 'evil Barry' occupied for a few moments as Frost had been locked in the pipeline.  
"Have you absorbed his speed, yet?" the 'evil Barry' asked her.  
"no?" Caitlin was unsure as to what he was referring to.

The evil Barry picked up a large hi-tech looking syringe from the shelf across the room. "Here, this might help." he told her, handing her the syringe. Caitlin took it from him, "sure, Thanks." She said.  
She brought the syringe over to Barry, who was still lying on the bed. She wasn't sure what she needed to do. As the fear had settled in, she could feel Frost emerging.  
"What's taking so long? Are you okay?" the evil Barry asked.

"I… er…" Caitlin began.  
The evil Barry came up and hugged her from behind, "just remember… he isn't really me." He told her.  
Caitlin's eyes changed color, she had become Frost. She held on to Barry's arms that were around her waist, freezing him.  
"Caitlin, tell Frost to stay out of this." The evil Barry said as she could feel him trying to phase his hands. He was having trouble doing so as the ice began to spread all throughout his body.

Frost turned to face him. She kissed him, freezing him from the mouth to the rest of his body. She quickly got into action and freed Barry's arms and legs. He was relieved to be back on his feet and to have his speed back.  
As Caitlin reemerged, she wrapped her arms around Barry and kissed him, happy to have him back. They turned as they saw a breach appear from the other end of the room. The rest of the group had arrived, including their mirror doubles along with Ray Palmer and Harry.  
"Man, Frost is cold!" Cisco said referring to the frozen Barry on the floor.

"It's good to see you, man!" Barry said to his friend, "I wish I could say the same about your doubles."  
"It's good to see you too, man." Cisco said hugging the speedster.  
"Bromance later, guys…" Astrid said, "Let's get home!"

Their mirrorversion doubles laughed. "If only it were that easy." The mirror version of Cisco said.  
"What do you mean?" Barry asked.  
The mirror version of Astrid pointed to the speedster that had been frozen on the floor. He was now standing behind them.  
"Where is Caitlin?" he demanded to his former friends.

"Somewhere she can't help you this time, old friend." The mirror Cisco said. The evil Barry ran at Astrid, knocking both versions to fall to the floor before either could blink.  
"Astrid, are you okay?" Barry asked her as he helped her to her feet.  
"Don't worry! I'm fine!" she snapped.

"How do we stop a guy that we can't even hurt?" Barry asked them as they watched the evil Barry and the mirror version of Cisco fight in battle. Barry was feeling the impact of every blast that hit the other version of himself.  
"Ramon! Ray! I have an idea!" Harry blurted out, as he had picked up the large syringe that Caitlin was ordered to use on Barry. He told them his idea and handed Ray the syringe, who shrunk in his suit before their very own eyes.

"Ray? Do you need some help?" Barry asked his tiny friend as they watched the evil speedster move faster than the speed of light in an attempt to stop the breacher's attacks.  
Barry ran after the evil Barry, with Ray holding the syringe in his hand.  
"What's he trying to do," Caitlin asked Harry.

"The speed is the problem!" Harry said. "We're eliminating that factor. That syringe is designed to extract the speed from a speedster without killing the man himself."  
"But, wont that inhibit Barry's speed?" Caitlin asked, "he will feel the effects too."  
"If it does, at least it will only be until we get home. We need to lock that guy up." Astrid chimed in, "where he can't hurt anyone else."  
In one swift moment, Ray leaped onto the evil Speedster's back, drawing up the syringe and extracting his speed as fast he could. Fortunately, his job had been made earlier by him dodging another breach.

The evil Barry fell to the floor, just in time for Cisco to open a breach leading into a cell in the pipeline. The mirror version of himself went with him to lock up the door and then they returned.  
As Ray held onto the syringe he handed it to Barry, who was intrigued by how it looked in chemical form. "Alright guys. Can we go home, yet?" Astrid asked, "I'm dying to put some proper clothes on."

"Damn girl. I was enjoying the view." Cisco joked. Astrid glared at him so he turned away.  
"Yeah, let's go, guys." Barry said, as he placed his arm around Caitlin's shoulder. They went back to STAR Labs and prepared to return home.  
"So, I guess I should say thanks for the help. You're not such a bad clone after all." Cisco said to his doppleganger, once they had returned to the mirror version of STAR Labs and Caitlin and Astrid had changed into their regular clothes.

"…and you can't listen to any clear instructions…" his doppleganger said, "you risked both Astrid's life and your own." Barry, Astrid and Caitlin agreed with him.  
"So, what are you going to do with the other Barry and Caitlin?" Barry asked.  
"I'm going to try and rehabilitate them." Astrid's mirror self said. "On the contrary to what you might think, we're not such bad guys here. We just do things differently."  
"I beg to differ." Harry said under his breath, he still didn't trust them.  
"What about Barry's speed?" Caitlin asked.

"I'll be locking it away, somewhere safe," Cisco's mirror self said. "It wasn't just his speed in there but the speed of numerous speedsters, who knows what it could do."  
As Barry, Astrid, Cisco, Caitlin, Harry and Ray stood before the mirror, Caitlin allowed for Frost to take over. As Cisco created a breach, Astrid's mirror-self sent a series of messages to Astrid's mind.

She turned to look at their dopplegangers with a mixture of emotions, as Cisco waited for her to step through the breach. She turned and stepped through, as he followed her closing the breach behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

"Okay, Cisco… I think it's time for you to breach right back to Gotham City, now." Astrid said, the moment that they got back to their own world.  
"We only just got back." Cisco said.  
"Yep... and you've been here long enough." She argued back.

Harry hurried into his office to escape from their arguing, as Caitlin and Barry went to the med-bay.  
"Let me give you some space, too." Ray said as he headed towards the elevator doors.  
"I knew that the other Astrid told you something with that mind link of yours." Cisco said in frustration, "not that it matters… we broke up, remember?"  
"Excuse me?" Astrid asked puzzled.

"She didn't say anything about me? Umm… yeah… I'm heading to Gotham City… Bye guys…" Cisco said nervously.  
Astrid thought for a moment. "You kissed her?" she demanded. "I should have known! God, Cisco. You make me so angry!"  
"You're not saying that you and the other Cisco…"  
"No way... Because unlike you… Look, there's no point to this… just go!" she snapped as she stormed into her office.

But Cisco didn't leave. Instead, he followed her in to her office, "besides… even if we were together it wouldn't be classed as cheating… not technically…" he said.  
Harry sat in his office. He pulled out the vial that he had taken from the syringe in the mirror verse, that had contained the other Barry's speed. He thought back to what had been said in regards to the Reverse Flash. The Eobard Thawne, down in the pipeline had been caught so easily. Just maybe, he was the one from the mirror verse.  
If that were the case, it would only be a matter of time for them to come searching for him. Harry needed answers and he needed to find them soon.

He locked the vial away in his vault under his desk and picked up his tablet, directing him to Harrison.  
"I have just been to the mirror verse." He told Harrison.  
"What news do you have?" Harrison asked him.

"Something is coming… something big. But I was able to extract the other Barry Allen's speed, which also contained the speed of numerous other speedsters."  
"That's remarkable, World Walker." Harrison said, truly intrigued. "But, you have that look about you. What else troubles you?"  
"I'm not sure if we have the correct Reverse Flash down in the pipeline, he may in fact be the mirror version, himself." Harry said.  
"Why do you think that?" Harrison asked.  
"It's just a hunch…" Harry said.

Barry and Caitlin embraced each other in Caitlin's med bay. "I'm just so glad you're back… and that you're you and not that evil you." Caitlin told him.  
"I get it. I was just thinking the same thing." Barry said. "It's great to be back… even if those two are arguing again." He added referring to their friend's voices in Astrid's office.  
"Speaking of arguments…" Caitlin said, "I am really, really sorry for how jealous I was with Iris."

"Jealous?" Barry asked with a smile. "You have no reason to be. I need you to know, Caitlin, that you have nothing to be jealous of. You are my perfect partner. When I get injured, you heal me in more ways than one. You challenge me and inspire me. So you have nothing to worry about with Iris."  
Caitlin smiled as a happy tear welled up in her eye. She kissed him sweetly, happy to have him back.


End file.
